Dear Friends,

As I write the Olympics are in full swing. I wonder if you enjoyed watching some of the action.

Christian faith is a relay race – the baton needs constantly to be passed on to the next generation.  So our young people continue to be really important to us.  This Autumn we shall be asking you to pray about the appointment of a youth minister for the parish.  And at the end of October we shall have a pledge day, an opportunity for church members to pledge their financial support towards this initiative.  The two vital things are that we have enough money, and that we find the right person.   

Christian faith is a team sport – we depend on others and they on us; God calls us to be his church.  This September over 100 people will be coming on our parish Weekend Away.  Please pray for that, for the organising team, and for our speaker, Ian Barclay and his wife Hazel.  As we seek to support and encourage each other, I trust that God will foster true Christian fellowship among us, as members of his team.

Christian faith is a combat sport – we are in a battle against the powers of evil.  We all know the pressure that the world, the flesh and the devil can put on us.  Normal Christian life (and normal church life) is life under attack.  Our society continues to be an uncomfortable place for committed Christian faith to flourish; the church often gets a bad press (if any), and other people want us to agree with them all the time – that being ‘good’ is all that matters, or that all religions are basically the same, or that we can’t really know much about God.  Pray for yourself and your church, that God will strengthen us to fight the good fight.

Christian faith is an endurance sport – the prize is for those who persevere to the end.  Perseverance is a marvellous New Testament virtue.  Don’t give up! A new term begins, work steps up a notch, old routines start up again, the pressure mounts for another Autumn.  But God is with us to help us, and he urges us on.  Pray too for the older people in our churches – they are the models of perseverance that the rest of us need to follow, and we should cherish and honour them in our midst.

Christian faith is an international sport – it gives us a focus beyond our own borders and unites us with believers in other places.  So we look forward to welcoming Hilary, Marc and Simon Deneufchâtel to the parish on September 21^st.  They have spent the year at All Nations Christian College, and are heading off to Benin in Africa in November, where they will be encouraging churches and translating the Scriptures.

I am no sportsman.  So I’m glad that the apostle Paul puts physical fitness in its place: ‘Physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.’ (1 Timothy 4:12).

With all best wishes – James.